An Islamic tent in S. Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara

Journal article

This article presents a unique late thirteenth-century fresco in the apse of S. Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, which might be the only surviving full-size representation of a portable Islamic tent to have survived to our day. The tent, painted to represent a baldachin over the high altar, recalls descriptions of the Andalusi silk and gold tents seized by Spanish armies from the Almohad camps during the wars of Christian expansion into al-Andalus in the thirteenth century, some of which were sent across Europe as diplomatic gifts. In its extraordinarily precise, illusionistic details, the fresco appears to depict an existing, rather than an imagined, object and could therefore be the only extant visual testimony of the practice of displaying and reusing such precious Islamic structures in a Christian context.

Authors: Gigante, F

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Burlington Magazine Publications
• Journal: Burlington Magazine
• Volume: 1463
• Pages: 80-95
• Publication date: 2025-02-01
• Acceptance date: 2024-05-23
• EISSN: 2044-9925
• ISSN: 0007-6287
• Language: English